Daughter of Three Suns

Chapter 19

"Edward?"

"Hmm." His hand absentmindedly traced a line up my back and neck, then over my head, along my shoulder, and down my arm before starting the same route again. My whole being burned, and I desperately wanted to touch him, but my hands were still shackled and caught between us.

"I … I want to touch you, too. Can I break the chains now?"

My question surprised him. He jerked away and looked down at me. "No," he muttered. "Not yet. They're still watching." Then he pulled me beneath him so that I was hidden from the room. His breath tickled my ear when he whispered, "The sun was setting when you arrived. It should be night now. Aro sends Felix and his kind out to forage for food while it's dark. They'll come back and rest when the sun comes up. The lights are powered by the sun, so they'll stop glowing soon, and we'll have some privacy. I'll free you when it's dark."

I glanced at the two round circles that were on the ceiling. Even as I watched, their light began to dim. "So, they give light when your sun is in the sky?"

"Yes," he whispered. "James and I have a plan. We'll leave when the lights come on again, find the other women and the rest of the shifters, then escape to your world."

His words about my arriving reminded me of sharing his basherter form. "I saw your world and the sun leaving when I flew with you in the sky. I've never heard of this sharing of bodies before. Does this happen with every male from your world? Rosalie never told me of this."

"I think it's because James and I are different," he said, after waiting a moment. "We're the only ones whose mother came from your world. Emmett and the others were part of the people who lived here before the Great Destruction."

"The destruction?"

"When the rogue sun passed by and killed almost everything."

"That sounds like our stories of Daughter Sun. But that was long, long ago, and Emmett couldn't have been alive when that happened."

"He said he was a young boy. He told me about hiding in the mountains with his parents until it was safe to come out again."

"Parents?"

"His mother and father."

"Was his father a basherter, too?"

Edward pulled away again so he could look at me. "We call ourselves shapeshifters, Bella. We can change our shape from a bird form to a man or a woman. Basherter is a word from your world."

"What?" I stared at him in shock. "But women cannot change. We only have this form on my world."

"Yet you have talons like a shapeshifter," he said, running his fingers over my claws. "And no hair." His hand caressed my head again. "Perhaps you could at one time."

The images from my vision ran through my mind again. "I think you may be right, but that would have been long ago before we had three suns."

His hands had resumed their wandering. My skin itched and burned, either from his touch or Aro's injection. I didn't know. They both made it difficult for me to think.

I heard him breathe deeply then felt him shudder. "What?" I asked.

"You …Your scent," he whispered. "It … Bella, you smell so good." He nuzzled his face deeper into the curve between my shoulder and neck. When his lips began moving across my upper chest, fire bloomed in my belly. My skin tingled and a scent filled the air around us.

"Edward?"

"Huh?"

I smiled to myself, knowing he was finding it difficult to concentrate, too. "How many times has the rogue sun returned?"

"It came only once, at least that was what I was told. Why?"

"Because it's passed my world many, many times. The heat and brightness are so intense that only adult women and basherti are able to venture outside when it's in the sky. If it comes again, your world will know another destruction."

Edward was silent beside me. "I'm not sure anyone will still be alive when it comes again," he finally said.

"Why?"

"You saw Aro. He didn't always look like that. Emmett said the sores and the missing teeth are a sickness caused by radiation. It's also affecting his mind. Aro's dying, and so are the rest of them. We need to leave this place before it happens to all of us."

The lights had dimmed out completely as Edward spoke. It reminded me of being in Alice's room back on my world. I was surprised to find I could see quite well in the almost total darkness. The shackles were beginning to rub my skin, and I was tired of their pinching. Rolling away from Edward, I sat up and, with one sharp pull, snapped the chain that held my hands together.

"No, Bella, not yet—" Edward started.

Ignoring him, I reached down and broke the chain on my ankles. "These are uncomfortable and irritating," I told him, indicating the shackles around my wrists and ankles. "I don't want them to injure me the way they did Irina. Can you remove them?"

"Irina? You've seen her?"

"Yes. She escaped with Laurent and returned home, but she had been badly mistreated, and they were both in terrible shape. Why do you ask?"

"James told us she died."

"James?"

"Yes, Aro put him in charge of taking care of the women who come from your world."

"Well, he doesn't take very good care of them. Irina was thin and covered with bruises, and Laurent was barely alive. I don't think she was healthy enough to carry a child, if that's what Aro wanted."

"I didn't …" Edward frowned and glanced away from me without finishing. His behavior was confusing. Tentatively, I reached out to his mind, hoping I could sense what he was thinking. All I felt was confusion and maybe a little … guilt?

"Edward?"

"I'm sorry." He sighed. "I'm not involved in their care. I've only seen Victoria a few times, and she seems healthy and well fed. I don't understand why Irina would look like that."

"What about Senna and Tia?"

"I don't know."

Abruptly, Edward stood and began pacing the room. "I told Aro I didn't want to be around your kind. He knew I hated you, so James was in charge. I was there when they set the trap and captured the other women, but I only saw them that one time. I—"

"Do you trust James?" I stood and walked to face him.

"Of course. He's my brother. Why would you ask?"

I thought of James' words about helping Edward and Aro so they wouldn't hurt Victoria. Something was wrong. Someone was lying, but I couldn't decide who or why. I heard Alice's warning again, Beware them all.

"Bella?"

I shook my head. "Nothing. I was just thinking. Can you take these off?" I shook the shackles on my wrists and pointed to the ones on my ankles.

"Oh, yes. Sorry. I have the key here in my pants pocket." Edward reached into the fabric covering his lower body and pulled out a small metal device. He used it to unlock the shackles around my wrists, then knelt at my feet and removed those. They fell away, but his hands stayed on my skin.

Reaching down, I began running my hands through his beautiful hair. My claws scratched lightly, and I heard his sharp intact of breath and felt a shiver pass over his body. His eyes glowed golden in the darkness of the room as he stared up at me.

"Edward?"

"Yes?"

I stepped closer so that his head rested against my stomach and trailed my hands over his shoulders. "What do you call this garment?" My fingers plucked at the fabric there.

"A shirt," he answered before swallowing roughly. Another shudder wracked his body as he inhaled again. The smell of herbs and desert swirled around us, but now Edward's scent joined mine.

Tilting his head back, he once more stared at me with his great glowing eyes. "What do you call this?" he asked. His hands slid up along my legs, pushing my shift up, and setting my skin on fire as he slowly stood.

"A shift," I whispered.

"Can you … Will you take it off, Bella, so that I can see you, touch all of you?"

Covering his hands with mine, I slowly pulled my shift up over my head and tossed it to the floor. I heard his breath catch again.

"What is this?" he asked, touching the red ring on my chest. It was glowing, surrounding us with a ruby light.

"It was a link from one of your chains. Irina gave it to me for good luck. The rope it was on burned away during my change. When I emerged from my Metanora, it had changed color and was embedded in my skin. Grandmother Spirit said she would mark me with her sign. I think that's what it is, but I've never seen it glow this brightly.

"Edward." I looked up to find him staring at me. "This … This is just like our Anamnesis, our remembrance ceremony when we celebrate our heritage. It's dark with only Grandmother Sun in the sky. She blesses us with her red light. The adult women breathe the herbs and mate with their basherter in their man form."

I reached out and ran a knuckle along his jaw and over his lips. His teeth closed over my finger, sucking it into his mouth. "Rosalie told me the herbs start a change in us. A burning in the blood, a hunger, a longing deep within. For the women, it makes us want to become one with our soulmates. Do you feel it, Edward?" I stepped closer, pushing my breasts against his chest. His eyes widened and seemed to glow even brighter in the dim light. "This longing, this hunger?"

He swallowed roughly and nodded. "Take off your shirt and pants, Edward. Mate with me. I want to know the ecstasy of becoming one with my basherter."

He fumbled with his shirt while I pulled my finger from his mouth and loosened the fastenings of his pants. His clothing fell to the floor unnoticed because all I could see was the beauty of my soulmate. Edward's skin was darker than a child's but lighter in color than mine. His chest and abdomen were smooth and hairless and corded with thick bands of muscle. He had a faint scattering of golden hair on his legs. I stepped closer, pressing my whole body against his and running my hands along the strong muscles of his back. Then I reached between us. "This," I whispered, rubbing. "This is what makes you a man. This is where we join our bodies."

Edward groaned in response before wrapping his arms around me and pulling me even closer. "Bella, my mate," he murmured against my neck. "You are everything I didn't know I wanted, everything I thought I didn't need. I once thought your kind ugly, but you're beautiful, so very beautiful, my mate."

I took his hand and led him to the bed. Lying down, I opened my arms and legs just as I had seen the women do at the Anamnesis. A slow smile spread across Edward's face as he gazed down at me. "Although I have to admit that knife strapped to your thigh is very … ahh … stimulating, perhaps you should remove it before it injures one or both of us."

Laughing, I unfastened the sheath and laid it and the knife on the floor beside me. Edward crawled onto the bed and settled himself on top of me. I wrapped myself around him, pulling him against me with my arms and my legs. He moved and shifted and then our bodies were joined.

It was just as Rosalie had said—a great ecstasy that built and expanded as our bodies moved together. I felt as if I were on fire, both inside and out, but this was nothing like my change. Instead, this burning was a pleasure so intense that I quivered and shook and called out my basherter's name.

It must have been the same for Edward because he chanted my name over and over as he moved within me. Together, we reached a peak and my muscles clamped around him, holding him inside me as he shuddered against me.

When he stilled, he opened his eyes, and we stared at each other in the darkness. Can you hear me, my love? My mind reached for him. All the rage and anger I had felt before were gone. They had been replaced with love, joy, and a satisfying completeness.

Edward's smile answered my question. I hear you, my love, my mate, my life. His smile dropped away. "You should rest now," he whispered. "I know Aro hurt you, and I'm sorry."

I shook my head. "I will, but not yet. I'd like to feel that ecstasy again. If you would?"

Edward laughed. "I most definitely would." He chuckled again. "But this time, let's try it this way." Holding me tightly, he flipped us over so that he was lying on the bed, and I was straddling his hips. "I can see more and touch more now." He ran his hands along my thighs, over my hips, and across my belly. When they reached my breasts, he squeezed them lightly and ran his thumbs across the hardened nipples. His touch rekindled the burning and the longing for my mate. My scent bloomed around us again.

I heard him groan, and then he tugged me against him. One hand pulled my face to his and our lips met. For a moment, I hesitated, not knowing what he was doing, but then his lips moved, and his tongue slipped into my mouth and began to mimic the movements of his hips. I forgot everything except the ecstasy of our joining.

Later, as we laid wrapped around each other, I ran my finger over my swollen lips. "What was that, when you pressed your lips against mine?"

"It's called a kiss, Bella. Did you like it?"

"Yes. I think … I think, perhaps, it is a very good thing."

Edward's laugher shook the bed around us. "Sleep, my little mate," he said.

And I did.

.

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AN: I'm not sure how to approach this topic without sounding strident or shrill, but I'd like to remind the very few readers (mainly guests) who take it upon themselves to pick this story apart or find fault with it. The characters in this story are NOT human. They are NOT on Earth. They are alien beings, living on an alien world, in an alien universe. Yes, on Earth, Edward and Bella would be cousins and in some places that might be considered "insest" (sic) but according to my research on google, the "majority of jurisdictions permit marriage between cousins and is not considered incest." Sci-fi/fantasy is not for everyone. I understand that. If you don't like, don't read. It's just that simple.